THE CAUCUS; A New Topic for Debate

By CORNELIA DEAN

Published: December 25, 2007

A group of scientists is making an unusual foray into presidential politics, calling on the candidates, Republican and Democratic, to hold at least one debate focusing on the environment, medicine and health, technology policy and other science-related subjects.

The group, ScienceDebate2008, said in a statement that voters needed to know candidates' views on science, given that ''science and technology lie at the center of a very large number of the policy issues facing our nation and the world.''

Among its thousands of signers are more than a dozen Nobel laureates, former presidential science advisers and academic researchers. It has also won support from business leaders, university presidents, members of Congress and other politicians from both parties. (The statement and a list of the signers are at sciencedebate2008.com.)

Lawrence Krauss, a physicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and an organizer of the effort, said he became convinced of the need for a debate after hearing Mike Huckabee, a Republican candidate, defend Biblical creation against Darwinism.

The debate effort was not directed against Mr. Huckabee, left, or Republicans generally, Mr. Krauss said, even though the group's steering committee includes Chris Mooney, author of ''The Republican War on Science'' (Basic Books, 2006), a denunciation of the way the Bush administration deals with science.